One team’s trash becomes another team’s treasure with the announcement that former Melbourne United star Josh Boone, has signed a one year deal to play with the Illawarra Hawks.
The 34-year-old Boone was overlooked by the Melbourne United, who chose instead to chase the signature of the much younger, 26-year-old Shawn Long who played last season with the New Zealand Breakers.
“Melbourne, thank you so much for the last two and a half seasons! Wollongong, here I come!” Boone said via Instagram
Boone took to Instagram earlier in the month to voice his disappointment he wouldn’t be returning to Melbourne which caused multiple NBL teams including Perth, South East Melbourne and Illawarra to jump on the phone and enquire about his services.
Despite Boone being eight years older than his replacement Boone delivered impressive numbers in Melbourne last season averaging 10 points, 8 rebounds and 1.3 blocks (3rd in the league) per game.
Although Boone played the fewest minutes per game over his career he was still extremely effective which will no doubt yield huge dividends for Illawarra who are getting Boone at a fraction on the price he was in Melbourne.
Over the past three NBL seasons Boone has finished amongst the best in the league in player efficiency rating every year, a measurement which sums up all a player’s positive accomplishments, subtracts the negative accomplishments, and returns a per-minute rating of a player’s performance.
2016-17
2017-18
2018-19
Stats courtesy of realgm.com
Boone will sign a one-year deal with the Hawks and line-up alongside fellow aged big man, 34-year-old centre David Andersen, a teammate of Boone’s during the United’s 2018 championship run. Andersen has yet to be announced as a re-signing but is expected to be a part of the roster in 2019-20 once he finishes playing for SIG Strasbourg in France.
Visit our NBL Free Agent Tracker for a full list of off-season player movements and rumours.